This Is A Drill

LANCET-CLASS FEL BORE

Operated by:

• Blue-Green Ecociates, ICC
• Atalant Materials, ICC

Type: Orbital Bore, Free-Electron Laser
Construction: Starflight Shipyards, Seléne

Length: 1.2 km
Beam (primary hull): 72 m
Beam (storage rings): 324 m

Gravity-well capable: No.
Atmosphere-capable: No.

Personnel: 18

Drives: Nucleodyne Thrust Applications 4x1 "Sunheart VI" fusion torch

Propellant: Deuterium/helium-3 slush blend

Cruising (sustainable) thrust: 3.6 standard gravities
Peak(unsustainable) thrust: 4.2 standard gravities
Maximum velocity: 0.1 c (rated, based on particle shielding)

Sensors:

• Standard navigational sensor suite, Cilmínar Spaceworks
• Remote sensing (geotectonic specialization), Foiríäs Hall of Fine Instrumentation
• High-precision orbital positioning gravimetrics, Mariseth Gravitics, ICC

Other Systems:

• 4 x Empire Nucleonics, ICC, "Big Ion" high-output split-isotope fusion power reactor
• March of Photons, ICC custom-build free-electron laser;
• linacs and synchrotrons by Arctorr Heavy Industries, ICC and Hammerforge Tool Company, ICC

Small Craft:

• 1 x Nelyn-class modular cutter
• 2 x Élyn-class microcutter
• 4 x Adhaïc-class workpod

The Lancet-class is formally typed as an orbital bore. Orbital bores are orbital drilling platforms designed for high-level tectonic engineering, of which the Lancet-class is the first example.

What is high-level tectonic engineering? Lancet's design and construction was originally contracted by Blue-Green Ecociates, ICC (the ecopoesis subsidiary of Ecogenetics, ICC) to perform planetary modifications in the early stages of ecopoesis, or for critical planetary maintenance work.

In these roles, the orbital bore is expected to perform such work as replacing nucleonic cutters (linearized fusion devices) in the construction of large-scale canals and passes, releasing buried aquifers, cutting crater rims, safely venting volcanoes leaving periods of dormancy, modifying geologic faults, performing primary drilling of moholes, and the like.

Perhaps the most dramatic display of Lancet's capabilities was the successful safe release of pressure from the magma chamber of an incipient supervolcano on Chenachale (High Verge), after the emplacement of a mycofibrillin-based crust stabilization weave and careful geotecture of above-ground lava channels. The release itself was recorded in Starfire and Earthfire, the now-famous painting by the artist Lauré Muetry-ith-Mirari based on on-site footage.

Less typically, Lancet has also been commissioned by a chfssssc colony expedition to provide their seedship with direct access to the Mohorovicic, rather than requiring the usual preliminary surface boring; and a sister ship, Curette, has been commissioned under license by Atalant Materials, ICC for use in freeing deep ore bodies from differentiated planetesimals or barren worlds.

(A militarized version of the Lancet-class has also been proposed, tentatively designated the Eschatofer-class laser bombard. The Bureau of Ships has not yet indicated whether or not it intends to proceed with the project.)

The Lancet-class is readily identifiable by its profile. Being constructed around the lengthy accelerator called for by the massive free-electron laser at its core (manufactured to spec for the spaceframe by March of Photons, ICC, specialists in civilian laser technology), it is a long and skeletal vessel until you reach the stern where the storage rings are located.

Indeed, the Lancet is largely defined by the reinforced octet truss running from the blocky 144-meter undulator structure at the bow all the way to the engineering thrust frame at the stern. The rounded crew capsule is chin-mounted below the undulator, with docks and locks for the cutters and workpods on its lowest deck.

Meanwhile, the primary accelerator is largely hidden by fuel tanks as it runs aft through the center of the truss, until it reaches the point at which the four storage rings feed into it via the kicker magnet complex. 288 m in diameter, the circular storage ring trusses extend from the central truss to dorsal, ventral, port, and starboard, housing the synchrotron electron storage rings and the oversized reaction wheels used for precise aiming.

The engineering section housing the quadruple fusion torch drives and other core machinery is located within a hardened engineering hull behind the storage rings, bulged to for'ard to contain the power reactors. Thermal control is provided by carp-fin pattern radiators sweeping down from the for'ard edge of each storage ring to just behind the undulator. On Lancet, the subtle use of alloys in the radiators makes the Blue-Green logo stand out while the FEL is powering up.

When engaged in a fire mission, the Lancet is aimed by maneuvering the entire vessel. The oversized reaction wheels embedded into the storage ring trusses provide exceptional rotational accuracy in pitch and yaw, both leading up to and during a firing sequence.

The free-electron laser that forms the heart of the Lancet-class platform is supplied by the four "Big Ion" power reactors driving independent photoinjector clusters and feeder linacs to stock the storage rings with high-energy electrons. Since the laser itself can use up bunches of electrons faster than they can be produced, especially when tuned to upper-range frequencies (typically x-ray or gamma ranges; the Lancet FEL can be tuned anywhere between infrared and gamma emission for best effect), the storage ring provides a buffer allowing continuous pulse production during extended firing sequences.

To fire, the kicker magnet complex diverts appropriate bunches of electrons from the storage rings down the primary accelerator, and through the undulator, where photonic emission takes place within a tunable Meng mirror-based optical resonance cavity, ultimately producing a coherent and collimated beam.